Care or Scare

jeudi 22 juin 2017

SECOND STEP ON CULEMBORG

TRANSLATION

IES 9 D'OCTUBRE TOWARDS INTERNATIONALIZATION

During the week of 8th to 12th of May, a group of students and teachers of the IES 9 D'OCTUBRE have participated in the activities organized by the KONINGIN WILHELMINA COLLEGE (KWC) at the Dutch town of Culemborg.

This stay constitutes the second milestone of the KA2-219 Strategic Partnership for Education project within the framework of the ERASMUS + programme, which includes these two schools and five others from Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey.

The programme, named CARE OR SCARE: CHALLENGES OF MODERN TECHNOLOGIES, has focused on different applications of Technology around Water and Landscape.

Over five days, a total of 50 students from the seven nationalities have been able to share the results of the works and projects carried out in the classrooms of each school around the central theme of the meeting and have acquired new knowledge through lectures on the problem of Water in the Netherlands; They have noticed the crucial intervention of engineering in the visits to the Maeslantkering - a barrier against the cyclonic swell located at the entrance to the port of Rotterdam built between 1991 and 1997 as the final stage of the Delta Plan.

In addition, they have enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the uniqueness of Oosterscheldekering - an extensive dike with a length of 8 km that connects the Zealands of Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland, which is a unique work, considered everywhere around the world as an extraordinary project in the field of protection against water.

Among the different and interesting educational activities carried out at the institution we'd like to highlight the task in groups of 4 students of different nationalities to build a dyke using the following materials: sand, gravel and soil and check their functionality. We have to say that our students did not show too many expertise but they achieved the experiment.

The programme organized by the KWC did also take care of the cultural side with a visit to Amsterdam and a boat trip along the canals of the Dutch capital.

The students, hosted in the families of the Dutch students, could experience the warm welcoming and careful attention given by their hosts, they have seen with their own eyes how they live and how they are and had to adapt to the good customs of this country such as cycling every morning to go to school. All in all, they have made friends from six countries, they have improved their level of English, and have lived adventures that will go with them along their lifetime. You can not ask for more.

For all these reasons and for many others, from our institution, we believe in this kind of initiatives which are faithful to the principles of the Erasmus + programme, changing lives and opening minds. That is why we will continue on this journey of three years and along them we will offer new opportunities to our students, taking a step forward in the European and international dimension. Always on the track and facing new challenges!

Next November the IES 9 OCTOBRE will welcome and host during one week the students and teachers from these 6 partner countries. We are already working in the organization of this stay and doing our best . You may come across any young German, Dutch, Italian, Romanian, Czech, or Turkish youngster at any corner in our town ... We'll see what the future holds in store!

TRANSLATION

Young
people building a future together

While she’s looking with horror at a bag
of dark clay, one student of the Erasmus+ project states: “I really don’t put
my hands in that bag”. “Than I will do it” Rebecca says and without hasitation
she puts her hand into the bag. In the Erasmus+ project ‘care of scare’
students of seven different countries work together to explore the (challenges of)
the future.

Culemborg
– Together with approximately forty students and teachers from seven schools
out of Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Spain and Turkey, the KWC is
involved in a project to get some awareness of the challenges of the future.
It’s a project of three years and this week we are hosts of the theme ‘water’,
Rutger Oldenbroek, teacher and organizer of the project, states.

Oppertunities

The enthusiastic Oldenbroek also raises
the question: “Do we have to be afraid of the water or does water also provide
us with oppertunities?” That’s what we are discussing about.

To
make a dyke yourself

The importance of dykes has been made
clear to the students. Today the students are challenged to make a dyke
themselves. One which can withstand severe winds and high waves. The sun is
shining, so it’s good weather to work (outside) together. To encourage
cooperation between the different countries, mixed groups are being created.
But to find your teammembers is a little bit more difficult.

‘Really
hard’

“Who’s in group 7, who’s in group 8?
Sir, I can’t find them”. For a moment it’s a little bit chaotic but after a
while all groups work on a modelscale of a dyke. They know they’ll have to use
sand, gravel/stones and clay. But in what order and how much, they have to find
out themselves. “It’s really hard”, one member of a team cries out. In front of
her is an empty box in which a dyke has to be build. She even panics when she
watches her neighbouring group: “Oh look, they have a real dyke”

Very
cool

Ida from Germany says it’s ‘very cool’
in Culemborg. The Dutch are very open-minded and friendly people. Staying at a
fantastic host family, I like most this week. Chris Beltman, collegue of
Oldenbroek, states that the surpluss of this week is students (from different
countries) getting to know each other and to experience the way of living and
education in a different country. “I’m especially glad that the Turks are
involved in the project. Now everybody can see they eat and breathe, just like
we do.”

Strong
dyke

“Do you think it’ll be strong enough?” a girl asks one of her
teammembers in English. He answers: “I think so”, but he rethinks his answer
and than says: “I hope so”. But when water was poured into the box, the dyke
collapsed imediately, unfortunately.